avalononline | Video: CarlosVK

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Video: CarlosVK

[How... uninteresting. It's another shot of the Inn, but this time, there's a laptop in view with a cricket leaning against the screen, and a shaggy brown dog sleeping on the bed in the background.

A teenager with white hair and black roots sits down in shot, and waves a bit shyly.]

Hey, um. I'm Carlos, just got here, and I have a question. Does anyone have a Camelot in their world that's super different than this one? Archimedes back home is an owl, and Merlin has a long white beard and tends to whine about not getting to use magic enough.

Also... has anyone heard of Auradon? Just checking.

[The cricket makes a comment that can't really be heard, and Carlos sighs.]

Yes, Pongo, I know I should ask about school. I'll get there.

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[ Minako knows practically nothing about Camelot.

And yet she can't help but feel intrigued by the question being posed in this video anyway. ]

An owl? [ She pauses, seeming to consider this. Maybe it's an odd assumption, but somehow it feels like it fits in entirely-- ] A talking owl?

Yeah! He helps Merlin out with a lot of things.

[The brown dog shoves himself into view and barks at the video.]

Yes, Dude. I know you can talk at home, too. I don't know why only I can understand you here.

[ There's a moment where Minako is slightly startled at the sudden barking dog in full view--

But then she realises just why the dog is acting up when Carlos starts talking to it. And somehow that fact - him just casually talking to an animal - manages to surprise the girl way less than the way she got startled by it suddenly barking. ]

Wait.. you know that dog from back home? Is it like.. your talking pet?

Yeah, this is Dude, he's my dog from home. Back home, he ate a truth spell gummy and he can talk. Everyone understands him there. I think I have animal magic, so I can understand him here.

[A small cricket walks into the view and waves, bowing.]

And that's Pongo. He's my conscience, or so he keeps saying. I think they've been calling creatures like him familiars?

Yeah, everyone here has one of those! Though I think that this is the first time I've seen anyone have a cricket.. [ Not that it's the weirdest thing she's seen out there.

It's more just that Minako didn't consider yet that insects could also be familiars. ]

See-- hold on.

[ She moves away from the screen for a moment, only to return with a cat in her arms. A very heavy cat. It doesn't move at all, like it's either just lazing around in the girl's arms, or sleeping. ]

This is my familiar. That's why I wasn't sure if your dog was yours! [ Since those would seem like more traditional familiars. Like a pet, almost. ] But I guess that just means you have double the companions here now, huh..?

Yeah, I'm not sure why I ended up with both Dude and Pongo. According to Pongo, it's something about how he's from here and Dude's from home. He tends to talk in rhyming song. It's not unheard of back home, though. Lonnie's mom had a cricket friend, and now that I think of it, Pin said his dad was always talking about a cricket that was his conscience.

[Pongo bows again, and Dude settles down into Carlos' arms.]

Yeah. It's good to have something from home because I'm realizing that... I really am super far from home.

[ She nods. Minako can agree, really, especially since she's sure she would feel really weird about being so far from home too, if it wasn't for the fact that she has quite some of her friends here with her..

But rather than speaking up about her, there's something he's saying that's making her think. ]

Is the cricket conscience thing really that common where you come from? I don't think I've ever heard of it before.. [ .. maybe it's a local thing? ] Do you mean your familiar tells you what's the right thing to do in any situation?

[ In rhyme, even! Apparently! ]

No, I've only heard of one myself. At least I didn't get a Cheerful Woodland Creature or something like that. Those are more popular back home, following around princesses and princes.

He hasn't told me the right thing to do once. He tends to just complain. No idea why he's insisting he's my conscience.

[ A part of her is tempted to say that maybe Carlos just does a lot of stuff a conscience would complain about - but that feels too mean. She doesn't even know him! She ought to give him a chance! ]

Maybe he just wants to be unique! You know, to have something that sets him apart from other familiars here?

[ That feels like a better and more generous explanation. ]

Though mine doesn't seem to care about that at all.

[Hey, he is a villain kid. He wouldn't mind the assumption. Everyone else makes it...]

That's true. He is a fussy little thing. It's not like he's even complaining about what I do. He complains about my dog, and my clothes, and the state of my room.

No clue. I just... tune him out.

[ ...

There's a pause. If not just because one thing in particular sticks out about what Carlos just said, and Minako doesn't quite know what to think about it. ]

He complains.. about your dog? Why about your dog?

Oh, I think I remember vaguely a franchise that had Merlin as a long bearded man. He looked really old too, unlike the Merlin we have here.

A... franchise?

[Carlos looks super confused at that.]

What's that?

Basically it's term for stuff that are related to one another.

Which might be a bad term for this, after all. The movie I'm thinking about wasn't part of a franchise, even if the company it was done by had several of those. My apologies for the confusion.

Oh, huh. Not sure if we had something like that back home. We had movies that were related to each other, but we just called them series.

[Carlos isn't exactly a media expert. Until recently, there really wasn't TV on the Isle.]

Oh, usually something with just movies is a series, definitely. But if it has other things like tv series' or comics or such it becomes a franchise, basically. [He smiles.] The terminology sounds a bit hard sometimes, but it's not like you usually need to know it.

Anyway, my point was, there were several Camelots in stories back where I come from and one of them had a Merlin with a white beard and a suitcase that could fit everything in it.

Oh, yeah. That makes sense. It's like when there's a movie and a book and a TV show. Got it.

Huh. I mean, stories do tend to change as they're told. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a million different stories out there, even of people I know back home.

[ Isn't that a loaded question, Ritsuka does not say when she flips her own camera on. She might not be the best history student, and not super well-versed in much about original myths and folklore out of some of the oldest Japanese ones, but she does know more modern pop culture. There has almost certainly been a movie night or twenty at Chaldea where relevant movies were watched.

And then there's the whole awkward business of the last Camelot she'd visited. Hm. ]

Uh--yes? Or wait, yes and no, but also no.

... I don't think I followed that.

So, it's yes, but yes and no, and no?

[He is beginning to wonder if this is Wonderland and not Camelot.]

Uh--long story short, I've been to a Camelot, but it was a very...

[ There's a long pause as she tries to decide the right word for this. ]

Fraught? Fraught. A very fraught kind of place. Nothing at all like the stuff I'd heard about as a kid. I have seen a movie where Merlin has a talking owl friend named Archimedes.

[ Servants range from pleased to impressed to embarrassed when she knows trivia about them, but also! This is probably not the case here, so she's doing her best to step around naming D*sney. ]

...the Merlin I've met was just kind of obnoxious. More like a shady big brother than an old man.

Huh. Camelot's back home's no picnic, but I guess if there are other worlds out there, which is pretty obvious since this is a different world from home, they'd be different.

[He thinks for a moment.]

I didn't realize that talking owls were so... popular. Interesting.

[The shaggy dog barks a bit, and Carlos rolls his eyes.]

Yes, Dude, talking dogs are an awesome thing.

I don't know if I'd say they're popular so much as... owls are supposed to be smart and stuff, right? So they were probably popular with people who know magic stuff.

...No talking dogs, I think, unless we're talking about stuff in cartoons.

Yeah, that's probably it.

[Carlos shakes his head, amused as Dude barks a bunch.]

Dude ate a gummy with a truth spell back home. That's why he can talk. Sometimes we wish he'd shut up.

[Dude looks super miffed.]

Yeah?

[ That gets a startled little laugh out of her. ]

The only talking animal I know, I think he's mostly learned human language out of sheer spite. But how does truth spells make that happen?

I have no idea. Mal had no idea either. It just kinda... happened.

And, really, we thought it would wear off, but he's still talking at home, so who knows.

But not here-- oh.

[ That's right. Her own command spells aren't working anymore, so... ]

Huh. Wonder if there's a way for him to get that back, here?

That would be fantastic if he could. I've gotten so used to other people hearing him, that it's just a little odd.

I don't know a lot about magic here, but--probably someone's tried it, right? Who doesn't go, "hey! I've got magic!" and not immediately wonder what their trusty animal companion is thinking?

I believe Camelot is only a legend back in my world. I vaguely remember some Nanbans talking about some of the stories centered around it, but I don't know the details. If it didn't concern Japan, I wasn't interested.

Though seeing a Merlin who is a whiny old man would be rather amusing.

That's what I've been hearing from a lot of people. It's definitely a real place back home.

Oh, man. Ben said it was pretty amusing. He was just all fluffed and miffed at everything he said.

Well, Excalibur turned out to be Artifacty trickery and I think Artie said there's no evidence Merlin was a thing. He wouldn't comment one way or the other on the Holy Grail, though.

Big ol' nope on Auradon.

Holy Grail. I don't think I've heard about that one. Sounds interesting?

Artie? But he hangs out with Merlin... wait. Duh. You're not talking about the Artie I know. Sorry about that.

Something to do with Jesus' crucifixion. I think. And then somewhere along the way, some writer or other also connected it up with Arthuriana, and here we are. But if Artie refuses to confirm or deny something, that's practically a confirmation in its own right.

And no, unless you're talking about a grumpy old Jewish guy, I'm really not talking about the Artie you know.

Yeah, no. Artie's King Arthur's son. Excitable, still a squire and a bit bouncy, according to Ben.

Huh. There's a lot there that sounds vaguely familiar, but I'm not placing it.

...wow, real original naming scheme there.

If you don't recognise it... probably better not to ask. Religion stuff.

Now that I think about it, we're all pretty un-originally named back home. Everyone's some derivation of their parents' name.

OH. That's where I know it from. Claudine rambles about that sometimes. I think she got it from her dad.

Yeesh. Hopefully you're not all Parent Juniors, though. That'd get real stupid on the expectations front real fast.

Well, it's what everyone expects back home. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, everyone says.

Then again, Ben's trying to get people to realize that we aren't our parents, and we're our own people. Change is hard, and everyone's stubborn. I think people are starting to see it, though. I hope, at least.

Of course they're being stubborn. Especially if they were told they were in the right - that's how a humanity do.

[ The girl on the other end is standing upright, as if in attention. A pair of wolf-like ears are on her head, straight as well, but there's also a visible tail wagging behind her... ]

Sir Gareth of Orkney, Knight of the Round Table in Service of His Majesty, Arthur, King of Britain, at your service!

Ah... heh, which is to say, I am from another version of Camelot than this.

It's an honor to meet you, sir!

-[Carlos smiles and waves over the video feed.]

It's really becoming clear that there are quite a few different worlds with different versions of Camelot. So, if you don't mind me asking, what's different about the world you're used to?

Well, our Camelot was part of Pan Human History, and when the time of my King had ended, so did the time of Camelot. The city itself did not manifest in Avalon, like this one.

This Camelot, though, does have common threads in that past with my own. I read up on this world's Gareth, for example, and other than it being a young man, the beats of our lives followed roughly the same path.

Now that's super interesting!

That must be a bit odd to find someone who is you but isn't you.

Strange as it may seem to say, I think my current nature as a Heroic Spirit helped prepare me for this kind of thing. I've already had to interact with different "versions" of my king, and even some of my fellow Knights of the Round.

[ Which she realizes is probably a confusing thing to say... ]

What I mean is... this isn't exactly new territory for me.

No, that makes perfect sense. If it's something you've had to do before, it's easier. If you've never encountered something, you tend to assume the worst.

Though I think "worst" for me, in this case, would just be a more pronounced strangeness.

Which is still very much there.

Hi, Carlos! My name's Amy Rose. You can just call me Amy, though.

Where I come from, Camelot actually only exists in books and stories. [ Although if Sonic's story was to be believed... ] I've never heard of Auradon before, though.

Hi, Amy! Good to meet you!

[Carlos waves over the feed.]

Interesting. I'm starting to believe that a lot of what exists in my world is stories in other worlds.

Nice to meet you too!

Really? That's pretty crazy. What other things exist in your world?

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